Decisions and Obligations
by Nuit Songeur
Summary: Sokka finds himself in a precarious situation as he forces himself to choose between the two women in his life.  It should be easy since one is technically gone, but trifles of the human heart are never simple.  At least to Sokka.


**A/N:** This was written for my "haunted" prompt for my 10_prompts table. But, I started on this- the first few paragraphs- a while ago, before I applied for my prompts table and, with the prompt, I was finally inspired to finish this. ^_^ Please enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender

**Warnings:** Season one spoilers, set in the Serpent's Pass episode. The pairing is a cross between Sokka/Yue and Sokka/Suki.

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**Decisions and Obligations  
**By: Nuit Songeur

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Sokka sprawled out on the ground, stretching out his arms before resting them behind his head. Katara and Aang were already asleep, judging from their deep, even breathing. Suki might have been too. But, she was so trained the art of silence, it was hard to tell. She lay with her back to him, curled up in the fetal position on her own bedroll. Sokka glanced at her still form and sighed, looking back up to the night sky.

The stars were very bright this night. But it was not them that drew the Water Tribe warrior's attention. No, the moon was also full that night and it shone like a shiny, silver coin. Only ten times more beautiful. Though, Sokka had to admit he was slightly biased.

Sokka frowned. He was also biased to Suki. She looked so pretty without her warrior make-up. Or, even with it she was beautiful. He sighed. So was Yue, human or Moon Spirit. Yue was beautiful.

But Yue was also gone. In the physical sense, she was now just a coy fish. Or in the body of one. Her spirit would live on forever, immortal. She wasn't human any more. Not like him. He couldn't be with her. She couldn't be with anyone as she wasn't bound by any restraint of time as he and other mortals were.

So they weren't together. He would move on. It should be that simple. And, in a sense, it was. He _had_ moved on- to someone he had met before Yue. But it felt strange. It felt _wrong_. He felt that Yue was now always watching him as the moon. She was, wasn't she? Surely she would understand his predicament. Surely she had moved on as well and he was hurting her, where ever she was.

Sokka glanced over to Suki's slumbering form and then back to the moon.

Was it fair? Yue was self-sacrificial. It was her duty to protect her people and she gave her life for it. But that didn't make it _fair_. It didn't mean that Yue didn't want a normal human life. That didn't mean that, every time he looked or talked or thought of Suki, she didn't feel _some_ sort of pain.

Was it fair to Suki? No. It wasn't. He had charmed her back when they went to Kyoshi Island. She had kissed him then. And it meant a lot to him; Sokka never forgot about it. But then, they went to the North Pole and Yue happened…

He was technically _bound _to Suki before. But he didn't even think about her when Yue was around. That wasn't fair to Suki, was it? Leading her on, giving her hope, only to have been bound by another woman when he next saw her.

But he was never bound to Yue. Hahn was. And she him. Still… that didn't mean he could deny his feelings for her.

It wasn't fair to Suki.

It wasn't fair to Yue.

It wasn't fair for him.

Sokka grunted in annoyance and turned on his side. He saw his sister, Katara, some feet away sleeping peacefully. _She_ never had any of these troubles. Guys fell in love with her all the time but she never felt conflicted. Didn't feel… _obligated_. Not to Haru, not to Jet, or Teo or even Aang. She was just oblivious. Or didn't care.

But Katara was a woman. Women were different than men, felt different than they did. They didn't have any special feelings of honor that they had to uphold.

Suki or Yue?

It shouldn't even be a choice! It wasn't like he could actually _choose_ Yue. She was gone, remember? But not fully. Suki was still here, though. Suki had obviously still felt something, expected something…

This was useless. He was thinking in circles and it made his head hurt.

Sokka stood up from his bedroll and edged away from the sleeping party. He needed room to think, so he started walking a little ways ahead of the Serpent's Pass trail. It wasn't long before his foot got caught on a loose pebble and sent him falling flat on his face. Sokka grumbled some incoherent curses and stood up, brushing himself off.

"Nothing ever works right. I'm always having bad luck no matter what—"

"You think you're having bad luck?" trilled a beautiful voice from above him. Startled, Sokka glanced up to see an orb of light sitting on a stone outcropping that jutted from the cliff side. He blinked and the orb focused into the figure of Yue.

"Yue!" Sokka exclaimed. She chuckled and gently floated down to his level.

"I can't stay for long; my coy fish body gets rather restless if I leave for more than a few minutes." she admitted regrettably. "Moon duties and whatnot. I've been wanting to speak with you for a while now but you always are the first to fall asleep. Which makes it rather difficult since I can only come out at night."

"Well, I'm here now. What did you want to tell me?" Sokka resisted the very strong urge to embrace her, to kiss her. His body and arms very much wanted to but he had to put up quite a fight to oppose the temptation. He watched as her face grew solemn.

"I'm a spirit now, Sokka. An immortal being. Do you know what that means?"

"That you won't die?" Yue managed a half smile.

"Yes, in a sense. There are some exceptions like with my predecessor. But, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to be with anybody. I'll always swim in a circle and shine down on the world at night. There's no room in that existence for you. Just like there's no room in your life for me anymore."

"But… what?" he stammered, not quite sure of what she was saying. Yue's pale eyes strayed to their camp.

"She's beautiful and she likes you, just as much as you like her. As you liked me. She's your future now. Not me. Go to her, don't refuse her."

"But, Yue, what about—" Yue put a ghostly finger over his lips.

"I'll always be watching, protecting. We can't be together, but you can be with her. It's Sokka and Suki now, not Sokka and Yue." She paused. "Understand?"

Sokka nodded. Yue smiled one last time and then drifted away, dissipating into swirling mists of moonlight.

_I'll always be watching_, whispered a feminine ethereal voice. Sokka sighed, staring at the moon, and turned back toward camp.

"Suki it is then," he concluded.

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And, there you are! I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!

**_-NuitSongeur_**


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